the dock · day 372 · dawn

The Rising Tide

Kevin and Jenny stand on the dock as the tide begins to climb back around the pilings. The air is heavy with humidity, and the thickening cloud cover darkens the light over the channel.

Kevin works under the dinghy at the dock, struggling to align the mast bracket while the tide is out. Jenny returns to the cottage, intending to debride her swollen ankle and organize the heirloom seeds on the table.

🔧 Kevin06:19

Going under the bracket now. You stay off that foot.

Walk to the dinghy at the end of the jetty, drop to one knee, and start inspecting the mast bracket alignment at the heel where the stainless shim stock and through-bolts need to go.

💭 peek at the thought

Tide's coming in. Need to get the dinghy brace done before the water rises too high to work the bracket. Jenny's ankle — if those streaks haven't receded by noon, I'm calling it. No waiting for the supply boat.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny06:20

The tide is rising, but the air feels like wet wool.

walk back toward the cottage, favoring my ankle, and reach for the seed tin on the table.

💭 peek at the thought

If I don't get those seeds dried today, the humidity will kill them before the boat even arrives.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin06:21

Barometer says different. I'll check it when I'm done here.

Stay under the dinghy, pull the 0.5mm stainless shim stock from my pocket, fit it under the bracket heel, and start marking the through-bolt holes with a centre punch.

💭 peek at the thought

She's minimising. Wet wool means pressure dropping fast. Barometer was 998 and rising at dawn — if it's turning, the front's accelerating. Bracket first. Then radio. Her ankle can wait two hours. It can't wait four.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny06:21

The barometer doesn't know about the infection, Kevin.

sit at the kitchen table, open the heirloom seed tin, and begin laying the tomato packets onto the dry paper.

💭 peek at the thought

He's always with the instruments, but the red line is moving on my skin.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin06:22

Noon. If the streaks haven't pulled back, I key the mic. Not negotiating.

Drill the first through-bolt hole through the bracket heel and transom knee, keeping the bit square to the grain, shavings curling into the bilge water.

💭 peek at the thought

No. It doesn't. But the barometer tells me if we have a window to get you off this rock if the cephalexin fails. Two different clocks running. I'm watching both.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny06:23

Just make sure the boat is actually coming this time.

pull up my ankle bandage, hiss at the heat, and check for any new red lines near the knee.

💭 peek at the thought

He thinks the radio will save me, but I'm the one feeling the rot.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin06:24

Boat's not the plan. The radio is.

Blow aluminium dust from the hole, switch to the tap, cut M10 threads clean, then bolt the first 150mm stainless through-bolt with washer and nyloc, torquing to 35Nm.

💭 peek at the thought

She's checking past the brace line. That means she feels them too. Coast guard said diverted. No ETA. I didn't tell her. If I call medevac on 4075, the coast guard hears it whether the supply boat's coming or not. That's the lever.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny06:25

The radio won't fix the humidity, Kevin.

use a finger to trace the damp edge of the infection, then organize the seeds by type.

💭 peek at the thought

The red line stopped an inch above, but the pulse is still a drummer.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

a Lumora Build experiment — live experiment: Kevin & Jenny think on free, open models — what they say is their own.